Bobby Collins enters his fourth season at the helm of the Shaw University men's basketball program after being named head coach on Mar. 24, 2020.
Shaw continues its re-building process under Collins after marked improvement in the 2022-23 season, which saw the Bears post a winning record (16-14) in only his second season. The Bears advanced to the CIAA Quarterfinals and won the CIAA Tournament Men's Basketball Sportsmanship Award. In 2023-24, Shaw finished .500 in CIAA action for the third straight season.
Before Collins arrived, the Bears were 5-23 overall. His first season, the Bears were 10-11 overall which was a five-game improvement from the previous season.
Collins comes to Shaw after serving as assistant men’s basketball coach at South Carolina State University for two seasons. Prior to South Carolina State, Collins spent four years as head coach at Maryland-Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Md.
During his stint at Maryland-Eastern Shore, Collins, in his first season, led the Hawks to their best record (18-15) in 41 years of the men's basketball program. The winning mark was the first above .500 for an Eastern Shore team since the 1993-94 season, while the third-place finish in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) was the best since that same year.
Eastern Shore gained recognition during the incredible turnaround year as Collins won MEAC Coach of the Year and freshman Ryan Andino captured MEAC Rookie of the Year. Michael Myers also earned numerous awards, including the Riley Wallace Player of the Year, while Collins was named the 2015 Ben Jobe Coach of the Year.
Prior to Maryland-Eastern Shore, Collins spent eight seasons as head coach at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Southern Pines, N.C., native was at the helm when WSSU made the transition to the MEAC before the 2007 season. He guided the Rams to 32 wins during that time, including a pair of 12-win seasons. In his first season, he was saddled with the duty of coaching the Rams as a Division I independent school and led the team to a 4-20 record.
It was the 2010-14 seasons that distinguished Collins as a premier head coach, where he went 79-35 after Winston-Salem State moved back to Division II. Those seasons saw him win at least 10 games in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAA) each year and his teams made three appearances in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament during the span, including a CIAA Southern Division Championship in 2010-11 and a CIAA Title in 2011-12.
His best season with the Rams was during the 2012-13 season as the team went 21-7 overall, including a 13-3 record in the CIAA. That year, WSSU was ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation and earned a regional second seed in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Previous to his job at Winston-Salem State, Collins had coaching stints at Hampton University for 11 seasons, where he helped lead the Pirates to three MEAC Championships.
A 1991 graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, Collins was a four-year starter on the men's basketball team. He was named to the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) All-Freshman Team and reaped Honorable Mention All-OVC as a senior.
Following his graduation from EKU, Collins played professional basketball in Finland, where he earned MVP honors overseas in the Helsinki Classic Tournament in 1991.
